When Casper was still quite young, no older than 10 years, his father had begun to teach him how to fight.
It was simple at first. The basics of how to wield a blade and swing it without hurting himself or the people around him. His father had started with wooden training swords, and by the time Casper was 11 he had gotten his own steel blade.
He was taught how to care for it, how to keep it sharp, how to wear it with confidence, and most importantly how to use it on both man and beast.
Casper's father had been an incredibly prolific adventurer, and despite Casper's relatively safe and comfortable life in the village, his father had thought it important to instill in him the knowledge and skills required to defend himself and the village.
Casper’s father had also tutored him in how to use the mark, how to channel its strength and call upon its power to aid him. At the time, Casper thought his father was some genius. Surely the man knew everything because his lessons did well to get him the edge over nearly everything in his path.
However, training now with the nameless girl it quickly became obvious that his father had no idea what he was doing when it came to the mark.
Casper’s father was easily one of the single most capable fighters in the entire continent, but he only guessed when it came to the power of the mark, and used those guesses to the best of his ability.
Casper's control over the mark reminded him of when he had first gotten his steel sword, and wasn’t used to the weight of it. The act of swinging it made him stumble around and miss nearly everything. There was power in his swing but it took him too far and left him wide up.
Whenever Casper used the mark, it was like swinging that sword. He had no finesse of the power the mark granted him, no fine control like this nameless girl did.
“It’s no wonder you become so much more…feral when you use your power, compared to when I use mine.” She says softly, resting a hand onto Casper's back as he spits up the remnants of his breakfast into the dirt.
Casper's body heaves, his head pounds, his stomach turns as the pulsing waves of vertigo threaten to send him face first into his own spittle.
He had tried to follow her instruction on divination.
He was honestly proud of himself as he began to see glimpses of what would happen, only to quickly get trapped in a vision cycle of seeing himself wretch on the ground in an eternal loop that felt like it was going on for eternity until the nameless girl was able to pull him out.
“Just because your body is capable of handling the power doesn’t mean you should open the floodgates Casper.” The nameless girl softly reprimands him.
She rubs her hand along the small of his back, until he spits up the last of his stomach's contents and sucks down a deep breath.
“You’re like a starving child gorging themselves with food at the first opportunity. It will only make you sick in the end.”
Casper can’t help but let his eyes linger on her thin, malnourished frame.
“I know what you are thinking, and that is why I eat slowly, and increase my consumption slowly over time. I do not train until I break like you tend to do. The mark is not a muscle, Casper, it is a…force…a magic in a sense. Do not try to break down your “muscles” by overuse.”
“I…understand that more now.” Casper clears his throat and stands, brushing the dirt from his hands and taking in a measured breath.
They had been training passively as they walked. Casper had been pushing the nameless girl slowly to try and help her build up her muscles. Training her awareness by forcing her to remember the specifics of their surroundings, and testing her with slow, mock attacks to ensure she remained alert, and practicing the defensive techniques he had taught her.
In similar fashion, the nameless girl had been explaining more about the mark, relating it to a dam within one's soul, whose water needed to be distributed through the aqueducts of the mind. A resource to be allocated in measured doses, and how to feel the different powers it offered.
It pained Casper to admit, but the nameless girl was picking up on combat training much faster than he was picking up on the mark control training.
He figured it was because he had already formed and cemented the bad habit of using the mark in a sort of “all or nothing” manner for so long. Sure he regulated its raw power output, and could more or less focus on certain powers at any given time, but after its use it always came with extreme side effects. These side effects were a result of the power he used being more “Raw”.
He didn’t understand it at first, not until the nameless girl shared her story of her time with the Acolytes.
“Please, bear with the analogies,” She had opened with. “The mark exists in the abstract, and the best way to explain the abstract is in its comparison to what we know.”
Casper had listened intently, nodding along to her every word like gospel.
“We liken the mark to water, in its depiction of the vast reservoirs we keep inside of us. When we channel a mark to grow its strength, to call on it to allow more of its power into our body to store, it is like a rain, filling a dam. And when I explain the allocation of the marks power it is through the analogy of aqueducts, directing the flow of power to different parts of us. You are capable of controlling this much I am aware.”
And it was true, this is what Casper had been doing the entire time he thought.
“But that is not all. One example I was given by Sister Melia, was that the water that fills our body with power is…everything. It must first be filtered before it can be consumed. When you, Casper, use your power you open the gates and regulate its flow but with that flow comes the silt and debris with it. The water that flows into your muscles is dirty, it taints the marrow of your bones and causes you…issues.” She explained.
“In the same way, so much of your internal “dam” has been used and over-used, while other channels remain closed, the silt and build up has jammed the other doors tight. When you take in power you take in “Raw” power. The water filling your dam is already…tainted. It must be expended before you can replace it with clean power.”
It didn’t sound promising. In fact it sounded like he was already damn well screwed. He thought he had used quite a bit of his power against the dragon, but given how little mark was used it appeared he had misunderstood the “power output” or rather, wrongly assumed some incorrect percentages.
If that was the case, how the hell could he ever expect to fully rid himself of the “tainted waters”?
“I can’t risk using that much of the mark…I couldn’t control myself even after using just a little, I damn near killed you. If I try to use it any more, who knows what will happen.” Casper spit the words much like the bile he had earlier.
“Well, you can still filter the power as you channel it, it won’t be perfect but it will be better.” The nameless girl reassured him.
"I'm trying…it didn’t quite work” Casper shook his head, trying to clear his mind of the quickly rising “side effects” from using the mark so often during their travels.
“It took me many years to do it. I don’t expect you to learn something so complicated in just a day while we also focus on so many other things.'' The nameless girl tried to comfort him.
Casper didn’t want comfort. He wanted to get stronger, strong enough to do what this girl could. Though the other, far more silent reason for his frustration were the ever growing effects of the mark on his body. The side effects he couldn’t quite escape.
Heat radiated from him. His skin tingled with every step, every scent, every look. He needed to find a way to expend the pent up energy but couldn’t justify an excuse to leave the nameless girl. Not now, not while they were searching for his friends, not while the stakes were so high.
“You are far, far too hard on yourself. I swore that when you saved me, and I had promised my life debt to you, it would be you being hard on me.” she notes in a slightly teasing tone.
“I’m hard on myself because I need to be.” Casper dismissed, once again putting some distance between himself and the nameless girl he caught her scent and became dangerously aware of their closeness.
The nameless girl frowned at that. Sitting herself up straight and brushing through the wrinkles that had formed in her clothing.
Casper steadied his thundering heart through slow, measured breaths, and made sure to cough away the low growl he felt rise in his throat before he spoke again.
“I do genuinely appreciate your help in this though. Truly” He offered, wearing his most genuine smile.
She returned the smile. “And I too am grateful for you.”
Just then, Casper noticed her eyes flicker for just a moment, as her cheeks reddened, though barely noticeable.
Was it possible he had imagined it? His mind had a way of playing tricks on him while he was in this state. The fates knew it had happened more than a few times already.
He did his best to ignore his lying eyes, which was difficult as the moment of silence hung between them, growing with each breath that seemed to linger for the both of them.
The way her small chest moved with each breath.
The way her hips curved as one leg rested behind the other in a delicate cross over.
The way her incredibly long hair seemed to tangle around her pure pale skin.
“Casper?”
Her voice was like a wind chime in a summer breeze, she had to say it a second time before he finally forced himself from the daze only to find he had taken a singular step closer to her.
She was definitely blushing now, like a sunset from ear to ear across her cheeks and nose.
“Let's move.” Casper forced his way past her, pressing onward and leaving the nameless girl to stand in pensive silence.
Casper had managed to put several feet between them before she managed to gather her own senses long enough to follow, quickly matching pace again at his side.
The air moved through the trees and groves, carrying with it the songs of small birds and insects to accompany them both as they walked.
The gentle rustle of nature, and the lingering warmth of the sun that had managed to breach through the canopy acted as an ironically calm backdrop to the torrent that was Casper's mind. A torrent that didn’t for a second stop, not even as they followed the tracks well into the night.
Casper had barely noticed in fact, not until the nameless girl quietly suggested that they should rest.
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He blinked a few times. The marks passive effects had forcibly adjusted his vision to the point where he physically couldn’t tell that it was dark any more. The only indication to him that night had fallen was the transition from songbirds to night owls.
He hadn’t even noticed the temperature shift, for the heat radiating off his body.
“We can keep moving, it shouldn’t be an issue. I have the energy-”
Casper's voice trailed as the nameless girl placed her hand on his arm.
Electricity moved through Casper at that moment. His senses had become so heightened, his skin and body and everything else so incredibly sensitive he could count the ripples of her fingerprint through the shirt he wore.
“The mark is still working through us, we need to rest, to let its effects wash away so we can approach this with level heads.” Casper almost couldn’t make out the words, for the pins and needles that tickle the base of his spine and to the back of his neck as her hand rubs softly along his bicep.
It took everything in his body not to return the touch in some way. It was maddening.
“Right…” Casper managed to force out, and in his words he swore he could see her shudder. The twitch in her lip, as she tried her hardest not to bite down on it. The slight tensing of her thin hands against his flesh. The faintest hint of longing trapped deep in her eyes.
He wanted to pull away from her again, but he couldn’t. It was as if they were trapped in space together at her touch.
It felt…primal. Raw. This was the first time anything like this had ever happened to him, to this degree.
Sure he had some sexual frustration after using the mark, along with the whole list of animalistic, primal side effects. But this? This was different.
It wasn’t something so base as a need to get his rocks off, it was her. She specifically was having some additional effect on him. Maybe it’s the effect of the mark, some pheromone, some metaphysical connection, or maybe it was because it had been ages since he last had the chance for release.
Regardless it was getting dangerous and getting dangerous fast.
Luckily for Casper, the nameless girl managed to pull her hand away, though it lingered inches above his arm for a moment before she pulled it in close to her chest.
“So…camp.” she repeated, leaning her head in to emphasize the point.
“Camp,” Casper confirmed.
He made quick work of setting up the tent, performing the act with meticulous, practiced motions, trying to drown out his feelings in the monotony of the task.
It didn’t work.
She was too close, too sweet smelling, too gentle, too firm, too enticing, too elusive, too everything for him right now.
He climbed into his tent after setting up hers with the same attention to detail. He settled into his bedroll, closed his eyes, and realized that even with the distance and barrier between them it still wasn’t helping.
Everything within him ached, yearned, and longed for a release.
“Casper?” the nameless girl's voice graced his ears like a song.
“Do you just enjoy saying my name?” Casper teased. Trying his best not to sound…something. He didn’t know what he would sound like but he couldn’t let her hear the desperate need for her in his voice.
“Yes…”
Fuck, that was cute, Casper thought as the nameless girl responded to his jest in earnest.
“Casper?” she asked again, unapologetic.
“Yes?”
“May I ask an…intimate question of you?”
Casper's mind lit up, but he forced it back down.
“You may.”
“When you channel the mark, I would presume you suffer the…same side effects as most of us do?”
There was no way this conversation was happening, he shouldn’t answer, he knew where it was going. Every fiber of his being willed against giving in to the primal desire but he found his mouth moving and words coming out before he even had a second to consider them.
“Which side effects are you referring to?” he tried. Baiting her. It was possible he was just imagining it, projecting some emotion that wasn’t really there. He needed to be sure. Needed to be absolutely confident they were discussing the same thing here.
“The heat that radiates from your body. The tingling sensation in your skin, the hunger…”
“I do,” he confirmed.
He must have been projecting, must have assumed incorrectly that she was trying to lead the conversation in a specific direction. He knew he was imagining it, knew he was too deeply steeped in his own desire-
“Do you get horny as well?”
fuck
His whole body tensed, and before he knew it he had responded.
“Yes.”
“Are you…horny right now? You must be after all of the training.” She spoke so softly, so sweetly, but without a hint of shame. It almost felt clinical, no, not clinical.
It was as if she was trying to be clinical, trying to be practical and nonchalant. But Caspers heightened senses could hear the yearning in her voice. He could smell the pheromones through the tent, he could feel her desire, the desire for him to confirm her suspicions, to play along.
“I am,” Casper admitted. “Are you?”
“Yes.” she breathed the words in a low, husky tone. It was so earnest, so genuine, so open.
“What should we do?” Casper asked, testing, leading, playing along but not wanting to jump too far ahead of himself. His crotch was already growing uncomfortable for the pressure building in his pants. His hips moved on their own in a silent plea.
“We can help each other then, it would be best if we did. The mark needs a release, and with nothing around to kill to eat, it would be beneficial for the both of us to feel some release”
How could she say it so casually, yet so seductively? Casper couldn’t understand. It was as if she was speaking of a casual transaction, not even prostitutes spoke so “business like” about their work. Yet it wasn’t impersonal either, no, it was anything but. It was, practical. It made the most logical sense, but it was so damn hot. Maybe it was her confidence in the exchange or the juxtaposition of her general figure and the incredible courage it took to skip the verbal foreplay and talk directly about what they wanted. And by the fates did Casper want it.
“I don't’ think I will be able to sleep without some…release, I agree, it would be best for the both of us. After all, you said you were feeling the side effects as well after all”
“Would you join me in my tent then?” It was phrased as a question but not spoken like one. It was a confirmation that he would join her in her tent, and so he did.
Casper slipped from his bedroll and out into the open air for the short distance it took to reach her tent.
Pulling back the flap, he felt his heart pound in his chest. It was like he was a young boy again back in the village or something.
He wanted to curse himself for feeling so internal juvenile, a feeling that vanished as his eyes focused on the nameless girls naked form laying atop the bedroll.
He had seen her naked already, but he hadn’t really seen her, not like this. Then he was focused on a myriad of other things, and honestly he should be focused on other things now, but despite his best efforts he couldn’t keep his mind off this woman.
The sliver of moonlight that makes its way through the open tent flap traces a line of silver against her dangerously skinny body. The strip of light moving like waves over each one of her pronounced ribs. Her collarbone is nearly entirely visible against her tiny chest and long neck. Her arms and legs are like a delicate doll made of the finest crystal. They look as though they could break at the gentlest touch as one props up her torso while the other sits in the pocket formed by her hips.
Her magnificent hair drapes over her body like a silken sheet. Deep, rich black it seems to absorb the light reflected from her pale skin. Like a full moon against a dark sky.
“You…were ready” Was all Casper could manage to say, and found his heart racing further at the confident smile that graced her full lips.
Her magnificent hair drapes over her body like a silken sheet. Deep, rich black it seems to absorb the light reflected from her pale skin. Like a full moon against a dark sky.
“You…were ready” Was all Casper could manage to say, and found his heart racing further at the confident smile that graced her full lips.
“I’ve had the mark as long as you, I am well acquainted with the effects it has on the body. I may have been raised by acolytes far from traditional society but I am not totally ignorant”
She brings a hand up, and Casper reaches out to take it.
The nameless girl pulls him in close, gently guiding his body over hers, as her delicate fingers quickly find their way to the waistline of his trousers.
Casper shivers at the sensation of her nails tracing just below the waist of his pants, and smiles as her eyebrows raise up as the tip of her finger is blocked from following its desired path by his member standing at full attention.
Mimicking her movements, Casper let his own fingers explore the valleys of her form, feeling her already warm skin grow warmer as his palm cupped the mound of her pelvis.
Her breath caught, as Casper found her most sensitive spot and began to roll his finger in a gentle circle.
“Casper-” she breathed his name, and by the fates did it make him hungry.
“Yes?” he teased, only to find his own breath catching as her fingers gilded around his shaft.
“Your companions you spoke of, You are not bedding any of them?” she asks between moaning breaths.
“No…I am not bedding them.” Casper confirms in his own low, rasping voice as her fingers work around him. “Not actively I should say. There was a misunderstanding that complicated some things.”
“they will not be angry with me for…engaging with you then?”
“It's possible, but hard to tell,” Casper had to admit. His relationship with them was complicated at best. The flickering thoughts of his feelings for Annabelle, the night with Elisayra and Alex, made him pull away slightly in hesitation.
She nods softly at that, though continues to speak through the steadily rising moans.
“Even if you were, it is not as though this is…for pleasure, of course. Purely practical, yes? Because of our affliction-” her voice raises as Casper allows a finger to glide inside of her ready body.
“Yes, purely practical. We need rest, and we can't rest with the effects of the mark in our body-” Casper confirms, eager to suppress the guilt making a home for itself in his chest, his hips thrusting in time with the tugging of her hand.
“Of course, of course” she confirms, though the words quickly become muffled as she bites down on her lower lip in an attempt to suppress the most recent moan.
Their bodies move and arch in time with the pushing and pulling of one another. Heat fills the tent enough to cause sweat to begin to drip from both of their bodies, matting her long hair to her skin.
“If we wish to be practical, there is a more efficient way to go about this-'' the nameless girl steadies herself, bringing her arm up around Casper's neck to support her torso as she rises softly to press their foreheads together.
“You mean?” Casper asks, his cock throbbing hard in her hand, itching for it to be where his fingers are.
He moves to reposition his hips, grabbing his shaft with one hand to press its tip against her entrance with animalistic eagerness
“No- no, not that!” she quickly shifts her hips away, bringing her free hand down to cover herself as she blushes more furiously than ever. “That's too much for… us, for a practical release. Don’t you agree?” she quickly corrects, much to Casper’s disappointment.
Her expression told him that she wanted it, desperately so, but she couldn't let herself go that far, not to maintain the impression that this was for “medical reasons”.
“Then what…” Casper gasps as his body throbs.
Wordlessly, the nameless girl moves and rolls Casper to the ground.
Casper allows himself to be moved, as she positions herself on top of him, grabbing her hair and rotating her body so that her hips rested above him.
Casper knew where this was going, only to have it confirmed moments later as he felt her mouth glide around his length and move slowly along his member.
He thrust his hips in time with the movement of her head between his legs, basking in the sensation of her tongue as it flowed around him, hungry and needy.
Casper needed to help her too, she was affected by the mark the same as him, this was only logical after all.
The scent of her drove him mad as it wiggled enticingly inches away from her. She was perfect between her thighs. Her womanhood was puffy and full, and dripping wet.
Casper gripped her hips and lifted his body to meet the distance between their lips.
He had never done this before, but he figured it out quickly.
He traced his tongue along the folds of her, testing and teasing to feel for the best reaction. Like fighting a new enemy he attacked every inch of her to suss out the weak spots.
A hip thrust as he flicked his tongue against the exterior. A soft yelp as he tested the space between her holes, a deep, full bodied moan as he drove his tongue deep inside, and paralyzing, intoxicating pleasure as he lapped at her pearl.
That was the spot then. He realized, only to find himself in stunned pleasure as well as she too managed to locate his weak point.
She sucked with full, sloppy movements as her tongue teased the underside of his cock, just below the head, while one hand worked at delicately fondling his jewels, the other pumping against the base of his manhood.
He couldn’t be selfish, they needed to do this for their own health, obviously. He couldn’t finish before her, he needed to pick up the pace.
Casper continued to roll his tongue around the sweetness of her, teasing her relentlessly until she thrust her hips and moaned in protest, begging him to let her have it.
He needed to be careful, he realized. As his hands held firmly to her hips, he felt the thinness of her, the fragility of her bones and weakness of her muscles. By the fates how he wanted to devour her fully, ravage her without regard, but he knew that a wrong move could snap this poor woman in two.
He continued to tease gently, cautiously, until her felt her protests begin to result in her own teasing of his manhood, and the moment he felt her begin to let up, he gave her everything he hand
Casper brought his hand up to press his fingers inside of her. They glided in with only the faintest of resistance from the clenching of her muscles. He danced his tongue around her most sensitive spaces, licking, sucking, kissing, all the while he moved his fingers along the ribbed interior of her walls.
Her breathed heaven moans around his cock, as she bobbed her head up and down in a fever pitch of pleasure. Devouring him like an animal hungry for more.
Their bodies rocked, and slapped together. They moaned around each other, breathing and begging until neither could take it any longer.
Just as Casper felt the walls of her tighten around his fingers, and her legs clamp shut around his ears, he felt his own body reach its peak.
Pure bliss ejaculated from inside him to fill her mouth, just as the girl's own pleasure filled his own.
Casper's entire body shivered, each muscle clenching tight as he forced every last drop of himself out, until she couldn’t take any more and let what couldn’t be swallowed spill back onto him, even as she continued to suck.
he too moved his fingers, massaged her deep and kissed her tenderly between the legs as her own organism drenched him, drowned him, suffocated him in pleasure.
Casper's body twitched with the residual orgasm, just as hers did, laying on top of him as she collapsed.
His head swam, his body felt lighter than air, as if he could simply drift away into nothing.
The panting rhythm of the girl's voice on top of him dropped into steady exhaustion, broken up by the occasional shaking of her thin legs and quivering, flexing of her hips and pelvis as her own orgasm ebbed away.
Casper's eyes fluttered. He wanted to keep them open to bask in her presence longer but it was just too much. Every drop of energy he had left was taken from him.
With a final breath he allowed himself to drift into sleep in the comfort of the heat of her body, as she bathed in the heat of his.